Seating unit



May 15, 1962 s. AVEDON 3,034,830

SEATING UNIT Filed March 20, 1961 INVENTOR. 614M 41 500 3,034,830SEATING UNIT Sam Avedon, Los Angeles, Calif, .assignor to Alladinglastics, Inc., Gardena, Calif., a corporation of Caliorma Filed Mar.20, 1961,.Ser. No. 96,804 8 Claims. (Cl. 297-445) This invention relatesto molded chairs, and. relates especially to a novel molded plasticchair construction.

In the past, chairs molded from plastic have proven to be popular,mainly because of their inexpensiveness. The seating portion of thesechairs, known in the trade as a bucket, has usually been molded in onepiece from plastic material. This process enables the chair to be madevery cheaply. However, the main disadvantage of such chairs is theirlack of comfort.

Bearing in mind the foregoing, it is a major object of the presentinvention to provide an inexpensive molded seating unit which hasgreatly improved seating comfort over prior art chairs of the sameclass.

It is another object of this invention to provide a onepiece moldedseating unit having an improved novel shape, and made of a flexibleresilient material, resulting in improved seating comfortwith respect tochairs of similar cost.

Still a further object of the present invention is to provide aone-piece molded seating unit having an improved novel shape thatprovides additional back support for the user due to the shape andflexibility thereof, thereby resulting in improved seating comfort withrespect to chairs of a similar type.

These and other objects of the present invention will become moreclearly understood by referring to the following description, takentogether With the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIGURE 1 is a perspective view of my seating unit;

FIGURE 2 is a cross-sectional view of my seating unit, taken along thelongitudinal axial line 2-2 of FIG- URE 1;

FIGURE 3 is a transverse cross-sectional view taken along the line 33 ofFIGURE 2, the phantom line in FIGURE 3 depicting the attitude assumed bythe back and side portions of the seating unit due to the weight of aperson seated therein; and

FIGURE 4 is a fragmentary transverse cross-sectional view taken alongthe line 44 of FIGURE 2, the phantom line in FIGURE 4 illustrating theattitude assumed by the side portions of the seating unit due to theweight of a person seated therein.

In general, my invention consists of a novel bucket or seating portion,for a chair, which is molded preferably from a synthetic plasticmaterial and which is molded in one piece. The plastic material employedhas the physical properties of being flexible, i.e., changing its shapeor contour due to the weight of a person, and of also being resilient,so that any change in shape of the material is temporary and due only tothe weight of the person.

Further, the novel bucket of my chair is shaped so that flexibleresilent side portions and outer portions of a flexibly resilient backsupport thereof move inwardly toward each other, i.e., to the center ofthe bucket, when a person sits in the chair and leans normally backtherein. The inward movement or contraction of the side and backportions, under the influence of the persons back pressure, gives to theperson a feeling of sitting in a chair that is custom molded to his bodyshape. This is due to the fact that, as force is exerted by the personcausing the side portions and a portion of the back support to moveinwardly, the small of the back of the person is engaged and supported.In this manner, the chair gives ate a custom-contoured feeling 'to theperson sitting therein, and also imparts a feeling of great comfort tothe person. Referring now to FIGURE 1, a chair 10* is shown comprisinggenerally a bucket or seating portion 12 supported on legs 14 havingsuitable leg bracing 16.

The bucket 12 is preferably molded in one piece, as shown, from amaterial which has both flexibility and resilience. Such moldablematerials are found in the class of materials known as the syntheticplastics, a preferred example thereof being polypropylene.

Referringnow to FIGURES 2-4, as well as to FIG- URE 1, the bucket 12 isformed or molded with a seating surface 20 sloping slightly downwardlyfrom a front curled-over front-edge or lip portion 22 to the rear of theseating surface. The curled-over lip portion '22 serves to add rigidityto the front edge of the seating surface 20. The rear of the seatingsurface merges into a rear corner section 24 formed with a compoundcurvature having a fairly large radius both across the seat, i.e.,transversely, and in the vertical direction, i.e., longitudinally (seeparticularly FIGURES 2 and 3).

The rear corner section 24 merges smoothly into the side sections 26 andthe back support section 28 of the chair Ill.

The side sections 26 are both transversely and longitudinally concave,and extend upwardly along the sides of the seating surface 29 and backsurface 28, commencing at a point 30 forward of the center of seatingsurface 2t and terminating at a point 32 in the back surface 28, whichis approximately one-half to two-thirds up the back support 28 from theseating surface 20. The side sections 26 have relatively littleconcavity at the upper and lower ends thereof but have a relativelylarge degree of concave curvature where they merge with the rear cornersection 24 of the seating unit. The edge portions of the side sections26 are not curled-over in the fashion of lip portion 22 since it isdesired to preserve the resiliency of the side portions and avoid theintroduction of flanges or lips which would inherently minimize suchdesired resilience.

The side sections 26 merge smoothly into back support 28, the backsupport bein'g transversely concave over the major lower area 28a, andmerging into a transversely convex minor upper portion 23b. The sidesections 26 are not distinct from the lower back surface 28a since thisback surface has a transverse curvature of approximately the same degreeas the transverse curvature of the side section 26 and because of thesmoothly merging surfaces of the back support area 28a and side sections26. The smoothly merging back and side surfaces 28a, 26 are shown inFIGURE 3.

As force is exerted on the back support 28 at approximately the junctureof areas 23a and 28b indicated by the arrow F in FIGURE 2, by a personsitting back in the seating unit 10, the central portion of the flexiblyresilient back surface 28b moves rearwardly to approximately theposition indicated by the phantom line 40. The transverse concavity ofthe curvature of the back surface 28a increases as shown in FIGURE 3,and the central area thereof moves rearwardly a measurable distancedesignated by the letter a. In so doing, the peripheral side portions ofthe back surface 28a and the smoothly merging side portions 26 moveinwardly toward each other to the position shown in dotted line in FIG-URES 3 and 4. In this position of the side and back support surfaces,the small of the back of the person sitting in the bucket is engaged andis supported. Further, part of the side portion 26, adjacent the seatingsurface 20, may move inwardly sufficiently to contact the thigh of theperson and give a feeling of further support depending upon the weightof the person.

A person sitting in my chair 10 has a feeling of sitting in a chair thatconforms to his or her shape, and for this reason, it can be stated thatthe chair assumes the shape of the person using it to a significantdegree. A feeling of substantially great comfort, in comparison withsimilar one-piece molded plastic chairs of the prior art, is thusachieved.

Inasmuch as the bucket is made of resilient plastic material, it readilyassumes its original position when not in use.

It will be noted that the underside of the bucket may have moldedtherein reinforcing strips 50, as well as sockets 52 for receiving thelegs 14. The seating surface 20, itself, is thereby made rigid incontrast to the aforementioned flexibility of the side sections 26 andthe back section 28.

One preferred embodiment of my invention has been shown and described,but it will be understood that changes and modifications may be madethat lie within the scope of my invention. Hence, I do not intend to belimited by my preferred embodiment but only by the claims which follow.

I claim:

1. A one-piece plastic seating unit for a chair which comprises: aseating base having a seating surface; a flexibly resilient transverselyconcave back support merging smoothly into said seating surface; and apair of flexibly resilient upwardly extending transversely concave sidesections connecting said seating surface and said back support, saidside sections merging with the sides of the seating surface and thesides of the back support, whereby when a rearward force is exerted on acentral portion of said back support approximating that of a personreclining thereon, the outer portions of said side sections and theouter portions of the back support contract inwardly toward the centerof said seating unit.

2. The one-piece plastic seating unit of claim I having, on theunderside of said seating base a plurality of leg-receiving socketsintegrally molded thereon.

3. A chair comprising: a one-piece seating unit made of flexiblyresilient material which includes a seating surface, a transverselyconcave back support merging gradually into said seating surface, saidseating surface and said back support curving more sharply transverselyconcavely along a substantial portion of their sides to thereby formupwardly extending transversely concave side sections which connect theseating surface and the back support whereby When said back support isforced rearwardly by a force approximating that of a person recliningthereon, the outer portions of said side sections move toward each othera measurable distance, said side sections having the peripheral edgesthereof substantially'the same thickness and radius of transversecurvature as the remaining portions of said side sections; and aplurality of legs afiixed to, and supporting, said seating unit.

4. The one-piece plastic seating unit of claim 1 having, on theunderside of said seating surface, reinforcing means for rigidifyingsaid seating surface.

5. The one-piece plastic seating unit of claim 1 wherein the transversecurvature of said transversely concave side sections is increased assaid rearward force is exerted on said central portion of said backsupport.

6. The one-piece plastic seating unit of claim 1 wherein the peripheraledge portions of said side sections are approximately of the samethickness as the remaining portions of said side sections.

7. The one-piece plastic seating unit of claim 1 wherein the radius ofcurvature of the peripheral edge portions of said side sections issubstantially the same as the radius of curvature of the remainingportions of said side sections.

8. A chair comprising: a one-piece plastic seating unit having a seatingbase with a seating surface thereon, and, on the underside of saidseating base having integral rigidifying means and integralleg-receiving sockets, a flexibly resilient transversely concave backsupport merging smoothly into said seating surface, a pair of flexiblyresilient upwardly extending transversely concave side sectionsconnecting, and merging into, the sides of said seating surface and thesides of said back support, said side sections having the peripheraledges thereof of substantially the same thickness and radius oftransverse curvature as the remaining portions of said side sections,whereby when a rearward force is exerted on a central portion of saidback support approximating that of a person exerting his weight thereon,the peripheral portions of said side sections and the peripheralportions of the back support contract inwardly toward the center of theseating unit; and a plurality of legs supporting said seating unit, eachleg being received within one of the said leg-receiving sockets.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS D.181,676 Ristenpart Dec. 10, 1957 D. 182,790 Cohen May 20, 1958 2,808,875Bargen Oct. 7, 1957 FOREIGN PATENTS 1,236,664 France June 13, 1960

